


follow me into the golden wild

by justsleepwalkin



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Ambiguity, Bad Wolf, Dysfunctional Relationships, Gen, Metacrisis Tenth Doctor as John Smith, Not A Happy Ending, Pete's World, Timeline What Timeline, out of order events
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:48:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26118256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justsleepwalkin/pseuds/justsleepwalkin
Summary: The Moment regards her quietly. “You'll keep your promise to me, Bad Wolf?”
Relationships: Metacrisis Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Rose Tyler & The Doctor, Rose Tyler & The Moment (Doctor Who)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	follow me into the golden wild

**Author's Note:**

> Why do I always break things... I don't even know what possessed me to write this.

> Follow me into the golden wild  
>  Stay close with your wounded eyes  
>  Absent when I need you most  
>  In the end I danced with a ghost  
>  Can you heal me  
>  If you can't feel me?  
>  I am here alone next to you  
>  Walking with a ghost  
>  [♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNmzV_A_bO0) Hollow Hands by nilu

-

There's been a predator stalking her partner and Rose does everything in her power to ignore it, even as she sees the hurt and panic in his eyes, the way he looks to her pleading, desperate to know that he isn't the only one seeing this _specter_. She doesn't react. She just asks him _what's wrong?_ time and time again, and doesn't let her gaze stray to the buzz of power at the edge of her periphery. Can't. Not for one second.

If she acknowledge that _thing_ she thinks her entire life will fall apart. 

She smiles reassuringly at him. Tells him to get some sleep. That he's just stressed.

She gets up sometime during the night, ignores the walls pressing in around her, the screams and echoes of reality, of memories she isn't supposed to have. 

She never told him about those, how they came back to her like a timer ticking towards an end. _I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me._ And oh, oh, the whispers of the universe that were clawing back into her, cloying. She wasn't supposed to remember this burning, ever-bright. _I can see the whole of time and space._

“I know you can see me,” her own voice lilts to her, chasing her, that predator, that wolf. 

Rose ignores it, still, until she's out of the house, turning to only look up to their dark room, and then continuing down the road, front door left open. 

The shadows shift and there's that trail of golden energy, a pulse of warmth following at her back. 

Rose doesn't stop until she's alone in an empty park, and then she spins to face— _herself_. 

“You knew I'd always come for you,” her voice says, dangerous, “You burn like the sun. Did you forget?”

“I thought I'd have more time.”

The Moment laughs, curls tossed back over her shoulder. This scrap of a figure, rag-tag in a way that Rose avoids dressing because even _this_ some part of her never forgot. “You didn't even say goodbye.”

“He wouldn't,” Rose answers. “I don't understand. Why do you want me? We're not the same.” 

“Ohhh, no,” the Moment purrs, stomping a circle around Rose. “I ended the Time War, same as you. We're mirrors,” she sings, clicking her tongue. “I picked this form—so long ago, for him, you know.” She grins, a flash of teeth. 

Rose shifts her stance, defensive. 

“But,” the Moment continues, “I think I picked it for you, too.” 

“I wish you hadn't.” 

“Why? _I create myself_ ,” the Moment mocks, deepening her tone. She jumps towards Rose, head cocking to the side. She folds her hands together behind her back, eyes alight. “I don't see why you're hesitating—you _want_ an escape, don't you? I can _hear_ it, rattling around in that head of yours. _Calling_ to me, always calling, even if you didn't remember our last meeting.”

“You were connected to the Heart of the TARDIS,” Rose says carefully, refusing to acknowledge anything else that the weapon's said to her. 

“I was—I _am_ —connected to _all_ things. As you were, once. That control at your fingertips, mm?”

“It hurt,” Rose whispers. 

“It won't, this time.”

“Why?” Rose's voice cracks, finally. She closes her eyes. “Why do I—what if I don't _go_ with you?”

“You're my consciousness,” the Moment reminds her. “I chose you. I see the streams of possibility, endless, all around me, jumbled together. All wishing for a weapon, but _we_ don't want that, do we? We don't like to be used.”

Rose flinches. 

“Without you, I am not me. There's the possibility that you accept, and there's the possibility that you don't; I wonder, which will you choose?” She leans away. “Will you choose the essential?”

“You're a weapon,” Rose snaps, “what do you know about essential?”

There's gold in the Moment's eyes, and Rose holds her breath.

“You are tiny,” her voice rings. “Your mind is so very _small_. What do I know? I know the darkness in people's hearts. I know how many times I've heard the phrase 'for the greater good' when people come to me. I've seen incidents repeated again and again and again, judged many a fool, and seen the making and unwinding of _so many_ kinds of people including your Doctor. What do I know?” Her voice is cold, “I know if you don't go with me, you'll lose him. That precious Time Lord. I don't think there's a better consciousness I can _take_.”

Rose thinks she's lying. Thinks there's any number of faces—of _minds_ —that the Moment could adopt, but none of them have that established link. None of them had the gall to crack open the Heart of the TARDIS and step into that shared light. None of them saw not only the universe, but their own life, expanded around them, leading to this—to this... _moment_. 

Rose swallows and nods. 

The Moment regards her quietly. “You'll keep your promise to me, Bad Wolf?” 

Rose holds out her hand. 

The Moment smiles and links their fingers. “ _Just let go_ ,” she lulls.

Golden light overtakes the park, and the two Rose Tylers are gone as its tides recede. 

John Smith jerks awake, sheets tangled around him, squinting into the darkness. He frowns, voice thick, calling out, “Rose?” and receiving no answer.

**Author's Note:**

> ?????????????????????  
> Don't even ask me, because I have zero idea.


End file.
